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At your service, ma'am: lesbians in the Military Life has vastly improved for lesbians serving in the British Military since the ban on homosexuality was lifted in 2000, discovers ERICA ROBERTS. But there's still room for improvement... When Lance Corporal Chelsea Bradshaw joined the Army in August 2002, she had no idea that there had ever been a ban on homosexuality in the Armed Forces. Then aged 16, she enlisted straight after leaving school, and says, ‘I didn’t know that there’d been any discrimination against anyone in the Army.’ Chelsea paints a refreshing picture of today’s Army life: she knows a lot of other women who are out, she’s never had any trouble because of her sexuality, and everyone in the office where she works as a clerk is very supportive. After she entered into a Civil Partnership with Lance Corporal Rachel Gardner in February this year, the Army gave the couple married quarters so that they could live together, as would any heterosexually married couple. Yet, a mere four years and eight months before Chelsea signed up to the Army, there had been a blanket ban on homosexuals serving in the Military. The Ministry of Defence had argued that the presence of lesbians and gay men in the Armed Forces would undermine morale and fighting capability, and until January 12th, 2000 – when the ban was lifted – life in the UK Armed Forces had been a living hell for lesbians. At all costs, gay people had to conceal their sexual identities because the repercussions were daunting. Degrading interrogations, humiliating investigations into people’s private lives both within and outside of the Forces, locker and room searches, and confiscation of private effects like books, records and posters often led to instant discharge. Donna McDonald, 30, of Cardiff is one of the many lesbians who underwent these investigations. She joined the Army when she was 17, knowing about the ban. Of the 22 women in Donna’s block, 15 were lesbian. In 1997, after they all went out to a gay nightclub together, Donna and her friends were investigated: ‘I don’t know if they had someone follow us; I don’t know how they found out.’ The interrogations were rigorous. ‘You were in there for a few hours. You were marched into a large officers’ room with old wooden desks, and went in front of the Captain of the camp and a few other officers, in your best uniform. The Captain behind the desk was basically a solicitor, trained in law. He knew how to manipulate us. They said they’d had lockers and goods checked. I freaked, because I didn’t have time to clean out my lockers. I still had stuff in the camp – books written by women, k.d. lang CDs and posters. ‘When I was interviewed, they screamed and shouted at me. I was very young, very naïve. I was a baby, and was being bullied by a load of men. They tried everything: “We know you, we’ve seen the way you dress”. But I kept denying their accusations.’ Donna had an alibi: when the Army rang a straight male civilian friend, he lied for her, saying he was her boyfriend. The interrogating officers changed tack – they offered her a cup of tea, spoke in gentler tones, and said she would have a promotion and full confidentiality if she shopped any other lesbians. She denied all knowledge, and charges were eventually dropped against all of the women. Joan Heggie, now 46, wasn’t so fortunate. Her life was shattered when she received an Army discharge. She joined in 1976, aged 16, fulfilling a childhood dream and completely unaware that she was gay. ‘My parents let me go because they saw the Military as a substitute family. They knew I’d have a roof over my head, and that I’d be looked after.’ Singled out as someone who showed leadership potential, Joan was enrolled in a scheme for junior leaders, and her future career in the Armed Forces looked promising. By the age of 22, she was a training instructor in charge of 40 recruits at Guildford. ‘They’d come in with pink hair, 17 piercings and stilettos; six weeks later, they marched out the gates as soldiers. And I did it without the in-your-face screaming. I’m incredibly proud of that – and they felt that pride too.’ Eventually, Joan Heggie joined the Royal Military Police, a mixed, tough environment, even by Army standards. ‘You’d either wimp out or stand up for yourself. The culture was anti-gay, and the people were extremely homophobic – men were called “poofs” and “girls”, and told to harden up. As a woman, if you spent too much time with other women, it would be commented on. You had to consistently watch your behaviour.’ By the time she was 18, Joan was already questioning her sexuality. ‘I was aware of the incredible risk. Fear held me back for a long time, and I didn’t do anything about it until I was 21. Until then, I dated guys to deflect attention.’ Despite her caution, in 1983, during a posting to Cyprus, Joan’s career came to an abrupt and brutal end. An ex-girlfriend was posted to Cyprus as well. ‘I offered to pick her up at the airport and show her around. Nothing obvious – and nobody there suspected I was gay. But the next night, when I checked the duty book where every incident had to be logged, I saw her name, and thought, “Oh, crap”.’ It was all there in print: her ex had asked to speak with a member of the Special Investigation Branch (SIB). ‘I knew she’d handed me in. I got rid of everything that could incriminate me, and waited. Within two days, SIB wanted to search my room and interview me. ‘I was constantly told if I admitted it, it would be easier to ask for a more lenient result – I could appeal, and maybe be retained and rebadged. For me, that wouldn’t have been a bad result – I could have stayed in the Army.’ But she was discharged, leaving her homeless, with no future, no job, an enormous hire purchase debt, and no income. Twenty-two years on, Dr Joan Heggie is now a research fellow at the University of Teesside, and is currently running a project examining what impact the lifting of the ban has made to the behaviour of lesbians serving in the British Military. ‘Have things changed? Definitely. Whether or not that’s 100% positively is unclear – we don’t have enough evidence yet. But my first impressions are that there are very different cultures in the Army, the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Navy. The RAF is more easy-going – but maybe that’s just the particular women I’ve spoken to. They’ve had no hassle since 2000; coming out seems to be a non-event. They haven’t felt persecuted. Their units have been helpful with information about Civil Partnerships and their rights.’ Heggie is equivocal about the changes in the Army. ‘The policies have changed for the better. And at the start of changes to policies, diversity officers are now brought into discussions. The Army says one thing – but the culture allows things to be run differently. Policy and culture differ; how policies drift down to units is up to the individual cultures of those units. It’s all down to the commanding officers and how they lead their staff. They tell their staff what they want to be done – it’s the luck of the draw. You might be in one unit that’s fine, and then you get posted and your new unit may not be so good. ‘What is clear is that the Military Police isn’t a good place to be as a gay woman, even post-2000. It makes sense – they’re used to hunting people down. It seems they’re still giving women lots of grief about being gay. That’s a shame – they’re the people enforcing discipline, especially in Afghanistan and the Gulf. If they’ve got that attitude, problems for gay women serving abroad in very stressful situations could get worse.’ All of the currently serving lesbian Military personnel who DIVA interviewed were unanimous: conditions have definitely improved for lesbians, even though not many years have passed since the ban was lifted.
Caroline Chase, 52, Chief Technician at the RAF Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering near Wolverhampton, says the cultural change has been remarkable. ‘I can now be openly myself. My desk regularly has copies of DIVA, Pink Paper and DykeLife on it, and I have a sticker that says, “Being gay is not a crime; hate crime is”. That couldn’t have happened six years ago.’ Caroline is in her 23rd year in the RAF, and understands that there’s still some way to go in changing hearts and minds. ‘I work with 13 guys, and because I’m fully open, they respect me. But I think they find it strange – it’s early years. The policies are in place. It’s up to people like myself to educate others. But that takes time. It’s going to take another generation for it to become second nature.’
Lieutenant Commander Helen Flint, who’s been in the Navy for 13 years, points out how far the Service has come: ‘In March this year, one of the keynote speakers at the Stonewall Workplace conference was Vice-Admiral A J Johns, Second Sea Lord and Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command. It’s incredible that such a senior officer is so behind all of the changes; and now the Navy has won 75th place in the Stonewall workplace equality index. That’s an incredible achievement, just six years after the ban was lifted.’ Helen’s life as a gay serving member has improved vastly. ‘Before 2000, and to some extent, for a while after, I had to be invisible. The best way I can describe it is by using a parallel from Star Trek. The Klingon ships had a cloaking device they used to make themselves invisible. That’s pretty much how I felt – I’d switch my cloaking device on at work. It takes so much energy to keep that working – it’s diverted away from more important things. That energy’s not needed any more; I can be me in my work place. It’s had a knock-on effect in my private life. I have nothing to hide any more. My partner and I had our Civil Partnership on December 21st last year. As soon as that happened, my naval category changed: I was equivalent to a married person.’ This entitles the couple to all benefits offered to married service personnel, including pensions and housing. One area that many lesbians agree needs improving is communications. Unless you work in an area responsible for the dissemination of information, it seems difficult to find what your entitlements are, or what the new policies regarding homosexuality entail. Equally, heterosexual members of the Armed Forces seem less informed than their civilian counterparts about lesbian and gay issues. Lance Corporal Rachel Gardner said, ‘I don’t think anyone knows much about Civil Partnerships in the Army. It’s not pushed out there much. People still ask me what it entails, and what rights I have.’ Corporal Amanda Wright, 33, has served in the Army for eleven years. She describes a very supportive culture, and is positive about the changes – but reveals that most personnel are still don’t know about the new policies. ‘I don’t think the policy changes or our new rights have been well communicated to us. They filter through word of mouth more than anything else. It should be better communicated; there are so many things that you don’t know you can claim for. And I had no idea that the Forces are now allowed to march on Gay Prides – although the Navy is the only one that’s allowed its members to march in uniform. You never really know things unless you go and find out.’ Because Rachel had worked as a Military clerk, she knew where to look for the information about her entitlements. ‘If you go to your regimental admin office, you’ll get talked through everything. The information is available – you only have to ask.’ Major Liz Nelson, SO2 of the Diversity section section of the Army Directorate of Manning adds: "The most recent changes to sexual orientation policy were related to the introduction of the Civil Partnership Act in December last year. Information on how this would affect Army personnel was send to all units for dissemination, and details were published in the Army's Equality and Diversity newsletter. A more informal way we have of passing information is via the proud2serve website." "As a matter of policy, a person's sexual orientation isn't an issue, and little policy change is expected in this area as the army treats gay and straight people alike. The Confidential Support Line is widely publicised if any personnel need someone to discuss personal issues with and, as the Army focus for issues relating to diversity (including sexual orientation), I'm very happy to be contacted directly on 01980 615351 or via email (not displayed on p2s for spam prevention purposes but members can email Army Employment Branch via the forum) But perhaps this communication strategy – relying on members proactively seeking information – isn’t enough to bring about deeper, lasting changes in the hearts and minds of serving personnel, both queer and straight. If the Armed Forces really want to create a welcoming, supportive, diverse environment where people of all sexual identities can thrive, this is a challenge still to be faced. And, to communicate the changes to the civilian world, perhaps the Army and the RAF should consider following the Navy’s example: allow serving members to march in uniform at Gay Prides.
this article appeared in the Dec 06 diva magazine. There are now at least 28 women members out of a total of 420 (7% identified as women) Some of those interviewed are members of the proud2serve.net public forum: page: interviews :: 200612-Diva-AtYourService.htm |
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